Prerequisites

If any of the protected host's volumes are larger than 2 TB, you must perform a VHDx image export. VHD virtual disks do not support volumes larger than 2 TB.

Although image files on Datto appliances are dynamic, sparse or thin-provisioned, when a VHD image file is copied from the Datto device using copy-paste (or other tools that do not accommodate dynamic/sparse/thin provisioning), the VHD image file will be copied with thick provisioning.

Hyper-V Manager Server 2008

If the VM was not previously hosted in the Hyper-V Manager, you must create a new VM. Otherwise, replace the existing Hyper-V machine's virtual disks with the VHD(x) files copied from the image export by performing the following steps:

1. From the Hyper-V Manager click New →Virtual Machine. When the New Virtual Machine Wizard launches, click Next.

Figure 6: Hyper-V Manager (click to enlarge)

2. At the Before You Begin page, click Next.

Figure 7: New Virtual Machine Wizard (click to enlarge)

3. Provide a name and location for the virtual machine, and then click Next.

4. Provide the amount of RAM to allocate the virtual machine. Click Next.

5. In the drop-down menu, select which NIC to use in the virtual machine. The default is not connected.

Figure 8: Configure networking (click to enlarge)

6. On the Connect Virtual Hard Disk page, select Use an existing virtual hard disk. Provide the path to the datastore where you copied the VHD file. Click Next.

Figure 9: Connect virtual hard disk (click to enlarge)

7. On the Summary page, confirm that all configuration settings are correct and click Finish.

8. Click Start.

Figure 5: Start the virtual machine (click to enlarge)

Hyper-V Manager Server 2012 and Server 2016

If the VM was not previously hosted in the Hyper-V Manager, you must create a new VM. Otherwise, replace the existing Hyper-V machine's virtual disks with the VHD files copied from the image export by performing the following steps:

1. From the Hyper-V Manager click New → Virtual Machine. When the New Virtual Machine Wizard launches, click Next.

Figure 10: Hyper-V Manager (click to enlarge)

2. Provide a name & location for the virtual machine, and then click Next.

3. Provide the amount of RAM to allocate the virtual machine. Click Next.

4. Specify the VM Generation.

Generation 1: Provides the same virtual hardware to the virtual machine as previous versions of Hyper-V. Any virtual machine over 2.2 TB must use a Generation 2 (UEFI) template.

Generation 2: Provides support for features such as Secure Boot, SCSI boot, and PXE boot using a standard network adapter. Can only use UEFI; BIOS is unsupported. Guest operating systems must be running at least Windows Server 2012 or 64-bit versions of Windows 8.

Once a virtual machine has been created, you cannot change its generation. If you are unsure whether you should create a VHD or VHDX Image Export, refer to this Microsoft Article for OS compatibility.

Thin Provisioning Unavailable

Microsoft does not currently provide tools to transfer VHD files to Hyper-V with sparse/thin/dynamic provisioning. This requires converting the disks from a live VM using Microsoft Virtual Machine Converter, described here. The converter is available for download here.

Mouse and networking do not work in the VM after restore

This can happen when the virtual machine is unable to reach the Hyper-V Integration Services on the Hyper-V host. To resolve the issue:

Make sure that the Hyper-V Integration Services are enabled on the host.Log into the affected VM and use the keyboard to access the Windows Device Manager

In the Device Manager window, scroll down to System.Find the Microsoft Hyper-V Virtual Machine Bus device. There may be a yellow exclamation mark next to it.

Press Enter to open the Device Information window, then press Tab until you see an outline on one of the tabs across the top of the window.

Use the keyboard arrows to select the Driver tab.

Press Tab until the Update Driver button is highlighted. Press Space to click the button.

Press Tab until the option for Browse my computer for driver software is highlighted.

Press Space to select it.

Press Tab until the Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer option is highlighted. Press Space to select it.

The Select the device driver you want to install for this hardware screen will appear. Make sure that the Show compatible hardware check box is selected. You should see Microsoft Hyper-V Virtual Machine Bus listed in the Model box.

Press Tab until you have highlighted the Microsoft Hyper-V Virtual Machine Bus driver, and then press Enter.

The software will install. The screen may flicker during mouse and networking driver installation.

After the software installs, the mouse should be functional. Check Hyper-V Manager to confirm that the network adapter is connected. Enter the IP address of the VM if it is set to static.

Check the Services control panel to make sure that the Hyper-V Integration Services are running.